Monday, 29 April 2013

I'm really glad April is almost over. The last two months or so have been a complete sod.

Off the top of my head, in the last eight to ten weeks...

I came off three different highly addictive medications. I caught a stomach bug. I had a chest infection (my whole family had it in fact, and both my parents developed complications as a result. My father was in hospital for a week, my mother probably should have been admitted too). I've developed a spontanous allergy to my favourite perfume and now look like someone has tried to strangle me. I've had painters and carpet fitters in to work in my house. Oh, and my dog is on heat and not happy about that fact.

It's been... interesting.

I'm way behind on pretty much everything writing related. I think it's taken me most of this month to write and edit a 10k-ish free short for the Goodreads MM Romance Group event. Happily, that is finished and ready to print out and proof.

As a result Masochist's Choice - which was slated to come out with Resplendence in May will probably be delayed until at least June.

I also fell way behind with replies to e-mails, comments and damn near everything else. I think I'm back up to date with most things, so if you are waiting on a reply from me, please poke me. Apologies to anyone and anything that fell through the cracks.

But, on the positive side, April is almost over and I'm really hoping that May is going to be a much better month!

I'll be back on the first of the month to talk about two new releases due to come out in May and announce the results of two giveaways.

Monday, 22 April 2013

It seems to have taken forever, but - Temporary Mark is now available on general release! That means, if it's not there already, it will be showing up on All Romance E-books, Amazon, etc any second. Clicking on the cover will take you to the TEB website, the links of the side of the blog will take you to ARe, Amazon etc.

Here's a bit about the story...

Can a temporary collar ever lead to a permanent relationship? Mark and Mr.
Nolan are about to find out.

Mr. Nolan’s last relationship lasted for over two decades. But, since
suddenly finding himself single, two years ago, he has struggled to find a
submissive who can fill the void in his life. Maybe a temporary arrangement is
exactly what he needs to ease him back into the lifestyle he loves so much.
Mark’s never experienced life under the protection of a good dom. He’s merely
had a series of abusive partners. He’s used to being treated as a temporary
feature in a man’s life, then thrown away when they tire of him.
When mutual friends push them together, the last thing Mr. Nolan, or Mark,
expects is to end up hoping a temporary collar will become permanent.
Reader Advisory: Please note that the stories in the
Collared series are connected solely by theme. They can all be read as
standalone titles and in any order. Mr. Nolan previously made an appearance as a
secondary character in Bi Now, Gay Later, however it is not necessary to have
read that book first.Excerpt...
Edward Nolan lowered his book and glanced at his watch. There was no good
reason why anyone should knock on his door that close to midnight. Hell, there
wasn’t even a bad reason for anyone to call on him at that time. Rising from his
chair next to the fireplace, he slipped his glasses into his book to keep his
place and made his way out of the lounge.
His footsteps echoed on the tiled floor as he strode purposefully across his
front hall. He’d already locked up for the night. He glanced through the narrow
window alongside the door as he took his keys from his pocket. Two figures were
discernible in the gloom.
He pulled open the door. The light from the hall shone over his shoulder,
illuminating two familiar faces.
Edward looked from Denton Greenwood to Jerry, from the young dominant to the
even younger submissive, then back. The possibility of them being there because
something was wrong occurred to Edward, but it was quickly dismissed. A man
didn’t spend so many years on the leather scene as he had, without learning to
read body language and expressions.
He studied each of his visitors in the full and certain knowledge that they
were up to something. Denton did a marginally better job of hiding it than
Jerry, but even so—if they’d been in the dock, no jury with sense would have
hesitated to find them guilty.
"We have a favour to ask you for," Denton began.
Edward narrowed his gaze, but he nodded once, granting him permission to
continue.
"It’s a slightly delicate situation, sir," Denton hedged, with a
not-so-subtle glance past him into the house.
They’d earned that much for their friendship over the last two years. Edward
stepped back to let them through.
"Would you mind if we brought someone in with us, sir?" Jerry asked, blinking
big blue eyes at him. "It’s just that it’s a bit cold to leave him in the car,
sir…"
Edward glanced over Jerry’s shoulder, into the 4 x 4, parked by the kerb at
the end of his drive. A figure sat huddled in the back, but the tinted windows
didn’t allow him to make out any kind of detail.
Edward’s curiosity got the better of him. "You may."
A tilt of Denton’s head sent Jerry to the car. He opened the back door to
reveal a well-built young man with dark, spiky hair. He certainly wasn’t dressed
suitably for the cold. His T-shirt was long-sleeved, but the fabric was
ridiculously thin—the stiff wind blew against it, and the lines of muscle on the
boy’s torso were clearly outlined through the material.
He evidently worked out, a lot. He carried serious muscle, and he obviously
wasn’t above showing that off in the clubs. His leather trousers clung to his
crotch and legs, putting all his assets overtly on display. The only place he
could have gone dressed that way, and not have looked like a cheap-rent boy, was
a gay nightclub.
The boy’s attention remained on the ground while he walked towards the front
door. With his hands pushed awkwardly into pockets, his shoulders hunched up,
causing him appear to be a turtle that would much rather retreat into its shell.
He allowed Jerry to lead him forward, not attempting to take charge of the
situation, even with someone as instinctively compliant as Jerry. Edward’s rapid
assessment put a tick in the box indicating that the boy was a submissive.
A bit closer and Edward distinguished the silver piercing in his guest’s
eyebrow. When the boy stepped into the light, the tissue-thin nature of his
shirt let it be obvious that his nipples were pierced too.
Edward was well aware that Denton studied his appraisal of the boy. If this
was another one of their matchmaking attempts, they had at least changed
tactics. If the last seven submissives they’d thrown at him had all been carbon
copies of his previous submissive, Frank, then this boy was the exact opposite
of all those pretty, delicate little blonds.
"Mr Nolan, with your permission, I’d like to introduce Mark Howells to you.
Mark, this is Mr Nolan."
Mark kept his head down, making it difficult for Edward to see his face.
Edward held out his hand. There was a quick flash of brilliant green eyes as
Mark peeked up before dropping his gaze again.
A few more seconds passed. Edward kept his hand where it was.
Finally, Mark gave in and put his hand in Edward’s grip. The brief handshake
was enough to inform Edward that the boy was nigh on freezing.
"Come in," he ordered. "There’s a fire in the lounge. You’ll find it far
warmer in there."
"Yes, sir." The words were so mumbled as to be damn near incoherent.
Edward bit back an automatic instinct to correct. It wasn’t his place to
comment on the boy’s elocution. Instead, Edward opened the lounge door. The
warmth from the room immediately seeped into the hall.

**********************************

And that's it for now, except for one quick reminder. I'm finally finding my way around twitter, and that's where you'll find random bits and pieces, inspiration pics and all the as-it-happens bulletins on my stories. Followers are welcome: https://twitter.com/KimDareAuthor

And, later today, a post will go live on Scorching Book Reviews, where I'm taking part in their LGBT event, talking about bisexuality in MM fiction and giving away yet another copy of Temporary Mark.

In each case, if you win and you already have a copy of Temporary Mark, you can swap the prize out for another e-book title in my back list or coming soon list. Also in each case, the only format the prize will be available in is pdf, since this is the format author copies are provided in.

In other news - I have new cover art! Actually, I have two new covers, but one is hush-hush and I'm not allowed to share it yet.

The shareable one is for Better Than Sex, which is due to be released by Amber Allure on 12th May 2013.

And here's the blurb...

Brody has been admiring the new-guy at the
engineering firm where he works for the last six months. Wallace is all the
things Brody isn’t—confident, stunning, sex on legs, oh, and straight. Brody is
resigned to considering working alongside Wallace the highlight of his week and
fantasizing about Wallace the full extent of his sex life, but apparently
Wallace has other ideas.

The moment he joined the firm, Wallace knew
he’d have trouble keeping his hands off Brody. In an effort to stay professional
at work he’s kept his sexuality to himself, but that’s about to change. When he
hears Brody say that seeing the latest project leave the premises is better than
sex, Wallace knows he has to take action. It’s time someone taught Brody how
good sex can be—especially when it’s served up with a generous helping of
leather.

Monday, 8 April 2013

I don't have anything new out this week, so I thought I'd talk about something else.

I have a long running love of audio books. Lately, when I haven't been feeling at my best, they're a god-send.

Here are some of my favourites...

﻿
I love all Pratchett. My favourite to read is a different title, but there's something about this one on audio that makes it quietly perfect. The Welsh accents for the dawarfs probably doesn't hurt. (It's also one of the more stand alone-ish Discworld titles. Although it's even better if you know the other books set there.)

﻿
I admit that I find a lot of the classics to be easier to listen to than to read. A good narrator really brings Jane Austen to life for me.

﻿
Fantastic sci-fi. If you only know it from the movies, the book is in a whole different league. I've never actually "read" it, but I've listened to it well over a dozen times over the years.

This isn't one of the most popular of Georgette Heyer's romances, but I think it's one of her best. It's not all hearts and flowers, it's realistic and, I think, all the more perfect because of it. My other favourite of her books in audio is Arabella. It's equally perfect, but in exactly the opposite way - pure escapism. I still laugh out loud every time I listen to it.

I have to confess, that I haven't listened to a huge amount of erotica or erotic romance on audio. But I do have a few out.

I have a free short story that has been made into an audio story. You can listen to that free on youtube below.

Total-e-bound has also released the stories that I've submitted to various anthologies as audio books.

Monday, 1 April 2013

I thought I'd share something a little bit different to kick off the new month.

Over the last few years I've had pretty much every kind of review I could imagine. I've had books called the best thing ever imagined and the worse thing ever written. There have been nice comments, snarky ones, quite a few down right inaccurate ones, lol.

But a little while ago I came across a kind of review I hadn't had before - a video review. They are by a writer and reviewer called Mitchell Sanford.

What else?

There are two different blogging events taking place this month which might be of interest to you.
Emily Wells is celebrating her twenty first birthday with a month full of blogs and giveaways from her favourite authors here.

And Scorching book reviews is hosting an LGBT author event on their blog. Click on the pic to find out more.

I have blogs scheduled for both those events.

The only other date for the calendar is - if you are waiting for Temporary Mark to go on general release (meaning it will appear on ARe, amazon etc) - that should happen on April 22nd. In the meantime, it's available direct from the Total-e-bound website, at a discount. Click on the pic to find out more...

And, last but not least. If you're on twitter, say hi! I've just joined, but I'm slowly finding my feet. I've just shared images of what I think the dom and sub in my lastest w.i.p (work in progress) look like. Let me know what you think of them? You can find me here.